The case of Robert Alton Harris, a convicted murderer who was executed in 1992 for his crimes, raises profound questions about free will and moral responsibility. In this essay, I will argue that Harris did not exercise free agency when committing the crimes, that he could not have done otherwise, and that he is morally responsible for his actions despite his background. Moreover, I will show how this scenario can be used to shed light on the possibility of free will and moral responsibility in a deterministic universe. First, let us consider the facts of the case.
“Determinism is the philosophical idea that every event or state of affairs, including every human decision and action, is the inevitable and necessary consequence of antecedent states of affairs”(Information Philosopher, 2015). It refers to the claim that, at any moment or place in time, there is only one possible future for the whole universe. However, the concept of determinism often comes into question when looking into whether human beings possess free will. Free Will can be defined as “the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability to act at one's own discretion” (Defence of Reason, 2014). The very definition of the terms determinism and free will appear to be conflicting however, many philosophical thinkers
Do Our Decisions Determine Our Fate? Decisions are made everyday like what to have for breakfast or doing homework after school instead of playing video games. One might believe that our choices have no impact on our fate, or that luck is the only factor in determining our fate. The most popular opinion being that our decisions make or break our future. Though the popular opinion is not always the best one, the leading idea is that our actions have the most impact on our fate, is true.
Lucy Bichakhchyan Introduction to Philosophy Second Short Written Assignment GALEN STRAWSON THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY Galen Strawson is a British philosopher, who is famous for his philosophical works on free will, panpsychism, causality, determinism etc. This paper is about his article “The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility”. The title of the article already gives away the stand that Strawson has considering Moral Responsibility..
Philosophers are on a constant struggle to determine if free-will is real or an illusion. Joshua Knobe believes we will do a better job addressing philosophical questions if we “can arrive at a better understanding of the way our own minds work” and free-will is a very important part of our brain, if it were to exist (Experiments in Philosophy, Pg.3). Some philosophers may argue that if free will is an illusion “you couldn’t come up with a philosophical stance on […] new information and act on it, because that implies choice and choice is a product of free will” (If scientists unequivocally proved free will was an illusion, how would society change, if at all?, Pg. 1). So to my wonder, would there be philosophical thinking without free will?
Three of the most prominent challenges are related to the problem of manipulation and coercion, the role of chance, and the difficulty of defining free will. The problem of manipulation and coercion poses a significant challenge to Hume's view of free will. If individuals are manipulated or coerced into performing an action, their internal psychological states may not reflect their true desires, motivations, or beliefs. In such cases, it seems unfair to hold the individual morally responsible for their actions. This challenge highlights the role that external factors can play in deciding human action, even in the absence of external constraints.
Rebels Without a Cause: Alienation in The Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar When most people think of the 1950s, they think of things like drive-in movies, poodle skirts, bobby socks, I Love Lucy, and Buddy Holly. But beneath the era’s conformist and highly materialist facade lay a largely overlooked underground world of racism, McCarthyism, and anxiety. This so-called Silent Generation was born too late to fight in World War II but still had to deal with its repercussions. People like Jack Kerouac, Malcolm X, Arthur Miller, Ralph Ellison, and yes, Sylvia Plath and J.D. Salinger struggled with the alienation that was typical of their generation. Nowhere is this alienation better portrayed than in Salinger’s
Galen Strawson argues in his work, The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility, the theory that true moral responsibility is impossible. This theory is accurate whether determinism is true or false. Strawson describes this argument as the Basic Argument. He claims "nothing can be causa sui- nothing can be the cause of itself" (212).
Determinism is a theory that all things in the world is governed by laws. This theory is based upon the materialist view of the body and mind. Materialists think that all things that exist in this world matter. We, humans, have mind or souls and desired interests are based upon actions. This principal argues that we have no moral responsibilities and choices.
Does arresting someone before they commit a crime remove the perpetrator’s free will? What if they changed their mind? These topics are discussed at length during the 2002 film Minority Report by Steven Spielberg. The plot of Minority Report centres around protagonist John Anderton, the chief of a futuristic police department, that uses “pre-cogs”, humans who can see crimes before they happen, to arrest the perpetrator before they have committed the crime. This polarises audiences, who either believe that they have a right to arrest someone for planning a crime, and those who believe that everyone is capable of changing their mind, before committing the crime.
Melville 's “Benito Cereno, published in Putnam’s Monthly Magazine in 1855, has been considered “‘one of the most sensitively poised pieces of writing’ that Melville ever conceived” (Feltenstein, 246). The intricacy of Melville’s story holds many hidden meanings and varied readings. Rosalie Feltenstein, Max Putzel and Matthew Rebhorn have taken it upon themselves to uncover some of these mysteries in their respective articles, “Melville’s ‘Benito Cereno’”, “The Source and the Symbols of Melville 's ‘Benito Cereno’ and “Minding the Body: ‘Benito Cereno’ and Melville’s Embodied Reading Practice”. While these authors develop different interpretations, the recurrence of motifs concerned with evil, its persistence, symptoms, causes and ambiguity
The multidimensional model of causality is a perspective that states abnormal behavior forms from multiple influences such as behavioral, biological, emotional, social and possibly developmental. Creating an example of a multidimensional model of causality is rather simple. I actually have a personal example of this multidimensional model. My freshman homecoming dance took an unfortunate turn. I was dancing with a guy when I did not feel very good at all.
Prima facie, determinism, the absolute belief of cause and effect, free will, assertion of humans having a liberated control over their actions, and compatibilism, the concept that even though cause and effect exists there are no inevitable end results, are all constructs to view on the reasonings behind the environment's and an individual’s actions. The most pragmatic would have to be compatibilism, and the “middle ground” logic it posses that supplement this decision. In passing, the void of narrow mindedness help compatibilism apply to the real world, as the evidence that supports either determinism or free will is also relative towards compatibilism’s belief. Compatibilism surrounds itself with that conditions can influence a person’s outcome,
Determinism, free will and moral responsibility (1681 words) Table of contents: Introduction. Blatchford’s view on determinism, free will, and moral responsibility. Schlick’s determinism, freedom and responsibility. Hospers’s position.
In order for free will free will to be tangible, an individual would have to have control over his or her actions regardless of any external factors. It can be argued that the inevitability of